Automatically-operated electric switch.



' I. C. BELL.

AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED ELECTRIC SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1910.

1,012,798. Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

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IRA C. BELL, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATICALLY-OPERATED ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Specification 01' Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

Application filed May 26, 1910. Serial No. 563,558.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA C. BELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically- Operated Electric Switches; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in automatically operated or time controlled electrical switches.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved construction of switch-operating mechanism adapted to be automatically actuated by suitable connections with a clockwork to turn the switch on and off at any desired time.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the switch-operating mechanism may be manually actuated or started.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a clock showing the application of the invention thereto; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the clockwork and switch on an enlarged scale, showing the operating mechanism arranged thereon; Fig. 3 is a side view of the same; and Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the trip device employed to start or control the switch-operating mechanism; Fig. 6 is a detail side View of the catch plate; Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view through the same on the line 77 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an inverted perspective view of the locking pawl which engages the catch plate.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 1 denotes the switch, which is here shown as a snap switch, but which may be of any suitable construction. The switch 1 may be arranged in any suitable position on the clock 2, which contains the operating mechanism, but is here shown and is preferably located on the front side of the clock, near the top. The shaft 3 of the switch is extended and projects beyond the rear side of the same, and is bent to form a crank, 4, which is connected by a link or pitman rod 5 to a crank 6 formed on the end of an operating shaft 7, which is revolubly mounted in the frame of the clockwork 8.

Fixe'dly mounted on the shaft 7 is a gear wheel 9 which is operatively connected with one of the gears 10 of what was formerly the striking mechanism of the clock. Fixedly mounted on a counter shaft 11 arranged in the frame above the gear 9 is a gear pinion 12, which is engaged with and operated by the gear 9. The gear 9 is twice the size or has twice as many teeth as the pinion 12. On the shaft 11 is also fixedly mounted a catch or holding plate 13, said plate having formed on its periphery nearly opposite lugs, 14 and 14, which are adapted to be engaged by a curved or segmentally-shaped catch or looking pawl 15. The pawl 15 is pivotally mounted in the frame of the clockwork and is provided on one end with an inwardly projecting hook 16, and on its 0pposite end with a plate-engaging point 17. The pawl 15 is cut away on its underside at its hook end so that the hook 16 is only one half as thick as the rest of the frame. The purpose of this will be hereinafter described. The catch plate 13 is normally held in locked position against rotation by the engagement of the hooked end 16 of the pawl 15 with the lug 14 on said plate. On the point end of the pawl is formed a laterally projecting stud 18, with which is engaged a releasing lever 19, the upper end of which is pivotally connected to a laterally projecting stud 20, on the frame of the clockwork. By means of suitable trip devices hereinafter described, the lever 19 is caused to release the hooked end of the pawl from the lug 14 of the catch plate and permit the latter, together with the gear 12 and shaft 11, to be actuated by the gear 9 which is operated by the gear 10 of the clockwork, thereby turning the crank 6, the motion of which is imparted to the crank 4 of the switch through the connecting rod or link 5, which will turn the switch on or off according to the position occupied by the crank 4 of the switch. The lugs 14 and 14 are only one half as thick as the catch plate 13, the lug 14 being cut away on its underside while the lug 14 is cut away on its upper side. By thus forming the lugs 14 and 14 and cutting the hook 16 away on its under side, the hook will catch the lug 14 and thus lock the plate 13, but the lug 14 will pass beneath the hook,

thereby allowing the plate 13 to make a complete revolution before being again stopped by the hook.

On the arbor of the hour-hand of the clockwork is fixedly mounted a gear pinion, 21, which turns with said arbor and makes one complete revolution every twelve hours. The gear pinion 21 is operatively engaged with a controlling gear 22 which is twice the size of the pinion 21 and is fixedly mounted on a shaft 23, revolubly mounted in and extending through the frame of the clockwork. The gear, 22, being twice the-size of the pinion 21, makes one revolution to every two of the pinion 21, or in other words, makes one complete revolution every twenty-four hours. The outer surface of the gear 22 serves as a dial and has arranged around the same two sets of hour numerals each ranging from one to twelve. Loosely mounted on the outwardly projecting end of the shaft 23, adjacent to the outer surface of the gear 22, are trip devices 24 and 25, one of which is adapted to release the operating mechanism to turn the switch on, while the other is adapted to actuate the operating mechanism to turn the switch off. The trip devices each comprises a disk 26, one side of which is provided with a segmental projection 27 having formed therein a curved concentrically arranged slot 28 and each a radially projecting trip finger 29, said fingers having beveled or obliquely disposed outer ends 30. The trip devices are held in position on the shaft 23 by means of a thumb nut 31, which is screwed onto the projecting end of the shaft 23, as shown. The trip devices are adapted to be adjusted to the desired position on the dial of the gear 22 by means of a set screw, 32, which is inserted through the slots 28 of the segmental projection 27 on the disks 26 and is screwed into a threaded aperture in the gear 22 provided for this purpose. By providing the trip devices with the set or clamping screw 32, either of the devices may be adjusted to bring the trip fingers thereon opposite to the hour 011 the dial of the gear 22, which represents the time it is desired to turn the switch on or off so that as the gear 22 is turned by the pinion on the hour-hand arbor of the clockwork, said fingers will be brought into engagement with the lower end of the releasing lever 19, thus causing the latter to release or disengage the pawl from the catch plate 13 of the operating mechanism.

In the operation of the device, as one of the trip fingers is brought into engagement with the lower end of the releasing lever by the movement of the dial gear 22, said releasing lever will be swung on its pivot until the hooked end of the pawl is disengaged from the lug 14 on the catch plate, which movement will also bring the point end of the pawl in position to be engaged by the opposite lug 14' on the catch plate which, when so engaged, will hold the plate against further movement until the trip finger 29 has passed clear of the lower end of the releasing lever at which time the pawl will be forced back to its normal position and the point end thereof disengaged from the lug 14 on the catch plate by means of a spring 33, with which said pawl is provided, and thus allows the catch plate, together with the operating shaft 11 and the parts turned thereby, to continue to revolve until the plate 13 has made one revolution, and the lug 14 is again brought into engagement with the hooked end of the pawl. This movement of the operating shaft, and the parts connected thereto, causes the shaft of the switch to be operated to turn the latter on or off as the case may be.

In order that the operating mechanism may be manually released to operate the switch at other times than that to which the controlling mechanism has been set, I provide a hand-releasing lever 34, which is pivotally mounted midway between its ends upon the framework of the clock, and is loosely connected at its inner end to the hooked end of the pawl and has attached to its opposite end an operating chain or cord 35, which extends downwardly outside the clock to a suitable distance and is provided on its lower end with a handle which, when grasped and the chain pulled downwardly, will rock the lever 34 and cause the hooked end of the pawl to be disengaged from the lug on the catch plate, the hooked end of the pawl being thus held out of engagement with the plate to permit the plate and the parts released thereby to turn far enough to bring the opposite lug of the catch plate into engagement with the point end of the pawl, after which the chain is released and the spring on the pawl permitted to turn the hooked end of the latter back to its normal position .in the path of movement of the lug 14 on the catch plate to stop the same at the proper time.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

The combination with the clock work, of a crank shaft having a gear fixed thereon and operated by said clock work, a switch, means operatively connecting said crank shaft and switch, a catch operatively connected With said crank shaft and having spaced radially extending lugs on its periphery, a locking pawl mounted in the path of said lugs, a pawl releasing lever, means on said pawl mounted in the path of said lever, means for actuating said releasing lever to disengage said-pawl from said lug comprising a shaft, a dial gear fixed to said shaft, trip members loosely mounted on said shaft adjacent the outer face of said gear and each comprising a disk having a segmental projection on the periphery thereof provided with a concentrically arranged slot, a set screw passing through pawl from its engaging position with re-.

spect to the catch.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IRA C. BELL. Witnesses:

FRED H. MoQUrsToN, S. S. WILSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, D. C. 

